Confident Lady Bobcats eye state title prize

Navajo Times | Ravonelle YazzieBloomfield Lady Bobcat Alyssa Quintana (50) makes a jump shot over her Espanola Valley opponent on Tuesday during the quarterfinals game of the 5A New Mexico Activities Association basketball tournament in Albuquerque.

ALBUQUERQUE

For the first time in 34 years, the Bloomfield Lady Bobcats are back in the semis of the state basketball championships.

No. 2-seeded Bloomfield defeated No. 7 Espanola Valley 57-33 in the quarterfinals on Tuesday at Dreamstyle Arena, aka The Pit, to earn their first ticket to the semifinals in over three decades.

Bloomfield head coach Tom Adair said after a close three quarters it came down to the final quarter, just as it has for his team throughout the season.

“I think they (his team) decided they just wanted it to be a close game in the first half, so that’s what happened, then came back in the second half,” he said.

“We’ve been doing it all year,” he said. “The second half has been our half, especially the fourth quarter. It doesn’t seem to matter who we’re playing, we crank it up another level.”

Espanola Valley started things off with a 7-0 run, but Bloomfield quickly bounced back and led 10-9 after one quarter.

In the second quarter, Bloomfield was down 18-14 but made a 6-0 run to close out the first half ahead 20-18.

Adair said his team did miss some opportunities in the first half, but they didn’t let it get them down.

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Sunnie Clahchischiligi has been the sports writer for the Navajo Times since 2008. She has a bachelor’s degree in print journalism from the University of New Mexico. Before joining the Times, she worked at the St. Cloud Times (Minn.), the Albuquerque Journal, the Santa Fe New Mexican, Sports Illustrated Magazine in New York City and the Salt Lake Tribune. She can be reached at sunnie@navajotimes.com or via cell at (505) 686-0769.